WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. — In his most direct response to the 2020 election results since entering the Republican race, Ohio Sen. JD Vance said he doesn’t believe Donald Trump lost the last presidential election.
Taking questions from reporters after a rally in central Pennsylvania on Wednesday, the Ohio senator was pressed about his recent remarks, in which he flatly refused to say whether Trump had won his re-election bid against President Joe Biden.
“If you don’t answer that question directly, what message do you think it sends to independent voters: Donald Trump lost in 2020?” Vance asked.
“First of all, in the 2020 election, I’ve answered that question directly a million times: No. I think there are serious problems in 2020. So, Donald Trump lost the election? Not in the words I would use,” Vance said.
The senator went on to admonish the media for focusing on the recent election and not on issues voters care about like the cost of living or the southern border, adding that he “couldn’t care less if you agree with me or not. regarding this matter”.
“What I know for sure is that in 2020, big tech companies censored Americans from talking about things like Hunter Biden’s laptop,” Vance added, pointing to comments he made in interviews and the censorship costing Trump “millions.” . Voices in 2020.
“Now let’s take this as a basic reality. Even the journalists who check me constantly admit that it is real. You can say — well, let’s say, in your opinion, this happened, and we still think Trump lost, or that it happened, and we think that means Trump won,” Vance said. “Who cares? It happened. “Censorship is bad, and that’s the main thing we’re focusing on.”
Later, at his second campaign stop of the day in Wilmington, North Carolina, Vance doubled down on what he said when asked by another reporter about his answer earlier in the afternoon.
“I’ve answered that question 10 times recently,” Vance said. “I think that big technology rigged the elections in 2020. This is my opinion. If you don’t agree with me, that’s fine,” he added.
Having the opportunity to ask a follow-up question, the reporter then asked: “Why did you answer the question now? Why did you say no when you didn’t say it before?”
“I’ve literally been answering this question for years,” Vance said, once again taking the media to task.
“Go about your business and focus on the issues the American people care about, rather than the bullsh*t of four years ago.”
Vance representatives did not respond to a request for comment.
While both have long questioned the outcome of the election, Vance has been cautious in public appearances, insisting that his running mate won or lost four years ago — a stark contrast to Trump, who continues to say the election was stolen from him. voters are already casting their votes in this year’s contest.
Even before Vance ran for the Republican presidential nomination the senator voiced similar doubts He spoke about the results and if he was in the Senate on January 6, 2020, he would not have confirmed the results of the elections.
“If I were the vice president, I would tell Pennsylvania, Georgia, and many other states that we should have a large number of voters, and I think the United States Congress should fight from there,” Vance said. Interview on ABC’s “This Week” in February before joining Trump’s presidential ticket.
However, one of his most notable responses as a vice presidential candidate, the vice-presidency went to the debate stage this month, when his fellow Democrat, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walsh, pressed the senator about the 2020 election results.
“Did he lose the 2020 election?” Waltz asked.
“Tim, I’m focused on the future,” Vance replied before once again mocking censorship on social media.
More recently, in a recent sit-down with the New York Times’ “Interview” podcast, Vance five times refused to say publicly whether Trump would lose the 2020 election, again hinted at censorship, and asked the show’s host: “The big tech companies censored a story that independent research suggested would cost Trump millions of votes?”
Asked later at an event in Williamsport about what he would have to see in November to say the 2024 election is safe, Vance said he’s “not worried about it” because there are so many “every legal vote cast and “to make sure every legitimate ballot is counted.”